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Episode Two
Following a recap ("Previously on Travels in Time and Space")...
As the lightning hit the pagoda (and travelled down the lightning conductor), a loud scream came from inside the house. Lissia, Ben and Dr. Whitehouse headed back to the house, to find that Marianne had fainted, babbling about a 'swirling void' and 'something is out there'. Longbaugh and Lissia agreed to try and hold a seance later that night, without Starling's knowledge. They all arranged to meet in the library.
Down by the river, Miss Downes stealthily followed the black shape (she seems rather good at this, considering she helps run the village tea shop!)
GM's notes: Although not having the Stealth skill, Jenny managed to Ace on either her Stealth Test or her Wild Die.
When the next flash of lightning came she recognised the shape, it was Ferguson, the estate manager. He was heading along the driveway, around the lake. She continued to creep after him until he noticed her following. He turned and confronted her, gesturing with his shotgun.
"You! You nosey old bag. You should have stuck to serving tea and crumpets. Well, I'm not letting it slip through my fingers, not now"
Miss Downes' response was surprising. "Don't threaten me like that", and so saying, smacked him over the head with her umbrella. Ferguson was Shaken and Miss Downes took the opportunity to run off towards the house. Once there she told the others about Ferguson. They decided to go and check out what he might have been doing.
Down by the bridge, concealed by some bushes, was a tunnel, sealed off by a metal gate. A pipe came up from the river and led up the tunnel, a culvert at the bottom had water flowing back into the river. It was short work for the sonic screwdriver to open the lock and they went up the brick-lined tunnel. Around two hundred yards up, there was a side tunnel that had been recently been dug (there were tools on the ground). A hose with a tap had been attached to the pipe from the river. Dr. Whitehouse and Ben squeezed up the smaller tunnel and found that it ended at a large vertical metal cylinder. The hose led to a cistern connected to the cylinder. a mechanism inside it made it flush at irregular intervals. They deduced that the cylinder was one of the support pillars for the pagoda and that when the cistern flushed into it, it would act like a huge organ pipe, producing the sounds.
A conference took place in the library later that night. They decided that Ferguson was obviously involved but couldn't decide where Longbaugh and the medium fitted in. They decided to do ahead with the seance to see what happened.
It turned out to be a complete hoax. Marianne went through the "is there anybody there" routine and there were a few mysterious thumps and knockings, then she spun a tale of the vengeful spirit of the Reverend Downes returning to prevent the descendant of Starling inheriting the money, a few well-chosen questions by Miss Downes and the others about how the spirit knew so much about the terms of the will, especially as he had died before Lord Starling and Marianne pretended to faint. The seance was over and Longbaugh escorted her upstairs to her room. Ben followed, to see which rooms they went into. Back in the library, Dr. Whitehouse was intrigued by a series of landscape paintings, all done by Jane Delauney. A quick scan with his sonic screwdriver revealed nothing out of the ordinary about them. They decided to speak to Lord Starling in the morning.
The following morning, at breakfast, they learnt that Lord Starling had gone up to London on the early train and would not be back until that evening. There was also news from the village that PC Groom was wondering what to do with the blue box that Scotland Yard had sent him; it must be his at it had POLICE written on it in big letters. Marianne was not at breakfast and Longbaugh had gone out; they took the opportunity to try to speak to Marianne. It appeared she had left in a hurry in the night; they found evidence that she was a stage performer/actress, and some clockwork devices which she had used to make the thumping/knocking sounds. In Longbaugh's room, they found a set of disguises that he had used to create the 'Old Harry' character. The pieces seemed to be all in place. Longbaugh stood to inherit part of the estate if Starling didn't and had obviously been trying to convince Starling of the existence of the supernatural, paying Ferguson to help set it up and using Marianne to help work the hoax.
Tea-time came, the butler served afternoon tea and cucumber sandwiches in the library. Dr. Whitehouse looked at the Jane Delauney paintings again but still couldn't find anything wrong with them. Lord Starling still had not returned by 5 o' clock, so they headed down to the railway station. To their alarm, they learned that his Lordship had been met off the train by Mr Ferguson. Back at the house, Longbaugh was visibly agitated at this news and, after a little persuasion, confessed all. They were correct, he had set the whole thing up to try and get the inheritance, but he's worried that Ferguson will go too far and kill Starling. Lissia pointed out that if Starling was killed then Longbaugh wouldn't inherit anyway as he would be an accessory to murder. Longbaugh nearly broke down at this point; he was willing to go along with the fake ghost but he isn't a murderer. Ferguson has to be stopped.
It was around half past seven in the evening and another storm was brewing. They decided to head to the pagoda, as this seemed to be the focus of everything. Inside, they saw Ferguson and Lord Starling. Starling was by the edge of the pit, Ferguson had his shotgun.
"I ain't going to lose the money now, not after all this. Seems like you slipped and fell, your Lordship"
Dr. Whitehouse and Miss Downes both called out to Ferguson, trying to talk him down, in response he fired one of the shotgun barrels into the air, shattering some glass and causing them all to dive out of the way. Longbaugh ran forward and tried to wrestle the gun off Ferguson; he was shot at point-blank range and fell into the pit. Lissia pulled Starling away, Miss Downes ran forward and whacked Ferguson on the head with her umbrella. Lissia used her psychic powers to restrain him (Entangle), another whack from Miss Downes' umbrella and he went down. Ben ran down the stairs into the pit to check on Longbaugh, but he was dead.
Aftermath: back at Starling Manor.
The police were called and Ferguson was arrested and charged with murder. Lord Starling thanked Dr. Whitehouse and his companions for their help and asked them to stay for a while. Dr. Whitehouse demurred and stated that they would be 'moving on'. Lord Starling asked them to look him up if they were ever in the area again. They returned to the TARDIS. Miss Downes elected to go with them. She was an avid reader of Verne, Kipling, Doyle and Wells, and so jumped at the chance to see the places she had only read about.
"Past, Present or Future?"
"Past"
The TARDIS juddered to a halt; the screen showed a lush hothouse of tropical flowers and orchids.
"Where are we?" enquired Lissia
"Err .. we're in 1852, at Kew Gardens", replied Dr. Whitehouse, frowning at the controls
"That's not very far in the past" observed Miss Downes.
They went out for a look round, also to try and find a rare orchid for the collection in the TARDIS. The air was very hot and humid, following a path, they ended up in a clearing. Suddenly a spear flew past them and they were surrounded by native warriors.
"I don't think this is Kew Gardens"
CUE MUSIC
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